Chelsea coach Hilario set to join England staff as Thomas Tuchel eyes further raids on former club

Thomas Tuchel is set to make former Chelsea goalkeeper Hilario part of his new England coaching staff.

Hilario is currently a goalkeeping coach under Enzo Maresca at Stamford Bridge, having initially returned to the club to work on Antonio Conte’s staff in 2016.

The Portuguese international, who spent eight years at Chelsea as a player, worked with Tuchel during the Blues’ Champions League triumph in 2021 and the pair are expected to reunite at England.

Tuchel’s appointment on an 18-month contract was confirmed earlier with this week, with the German set to start work in January with the aim of delivering success at the 2026 World Cup.

Anthony Barry, the English coach who worked under Tuchel at both Chelsea and Bayern Munich, has already been confirmed as the incoming boss’s new assistant.

Chelsea are braced for further raids on their staff, with reports that Tuchel is also set to poach performance analyst James Melbourne.

Speaking at his unveiling at Wembley on Wednesday, Tuchel suggested that he would continue to work with the majority of Football Association staff already in place, but confirmed there would be further additions to his close team.

“There will be a few more people in the backroom staff but we will keep the group very small because I always want to acknowledge the potential and the quality in the staff of the FA,” he said.

England’s previous goalkeeper coach, Martyn Margetson, followed Gareth Southgate and Steve Holland in leaving his post earlier this summer and has since rejoined Wales, where he worked between 2011 and 2016.

Hilario was initially assistant goalkeeping coach on rejoining Chelsea in the latter year, before being promoted to the senior role by Maurizio Sarri.

However, Ben Roberts was made head of global goalkeeping following Maresca’s arrival earlier this summer.

The Italian also brought goalkeeping coach Michele de Bernardin with him from Leicester, and has former Argentina goalkeeper Willy Caballero as his assistant manager.